The present invention relates to a multipurpose insert press destined to be used in all those fields in which there is a need to assemble manufactured articles constituted by thin plastic or metallic rolled sections clamped by means of screws and threaded inserts, and to carry out various machinings related to this activity or entailed therefrom.
In the field of the metallic or plastic carpentry that employs thin rolled sections to perform assemblies requiring a frequent disassembling and reassembling, it being impossible, due to their scanty thickness, to thread those rolled sections in a lasting and reliable manner, threaded members are installed thereon forming the seats inside which the connection screws are engaged.
Those installed threaded members are commonly called xe2x80x9cinsertsxe2x80x9d, and in the present, description they shall be hereinafter referred to as such. Some types of threaded inserts are secured to the rolled sections by cold plastic deformation of the rolled section obtained pressing the insert against the rolled section with a force that is sufficient to obtain local pressures, at the points of contact, higher than the elastic limit of the rolled section itself.
The apparatuses needed to obtain these forces are generically called xe2x80x9cinsert pressesxe2x80x9d. Due to the particular kind of task, the insert presses require specific geometrical characteristics, as they must be capable of reaching and of forcing the inserts even in positions difficult of access, as e.g., near laps.
The insert presses of known type essentially comprise a resting structure for a turret anvil, onto which one or more seats are formed for housing an insert, and a punch overlooking the turret anvil and coaxially sliding thereto with respect to said structure by the action of actuator means thereon and driven in a hydraulic or in a pneumatic way. A rolled section is manually positioned by an operator between the insert, carried by the turret anvil, and the punch that down-strokes exerting variable forces from 500 to 7000 Kg, according to the type of insert and of materials, causing the local deformation of the rolled section and the engagement of the insert thereon. In other cases the rolled section is directly laid onto the lower turret anvil, whereas the insert is placed above the rolled section. In most cases the positioning of the insert is manual, and anyhow, even in those cases in which an automatic insert magazine is available, the rolled section still needs to be manually positioned and held in place by an operator.
Most commercially available apparatuses used for this task have a relatively wide port between the turret anvil and the punch, in the order of several centimeters, to ease the positioning of the insert and of the rolled section prior to the pressing action. In many instances this port is too narrow to allow a good visibility of the working site, making the positioning of the insert and of the rolled section difficult. However, it is sufficiently wide to allow the accidental insertion of a hand or arm, thus exposing the operator to a serious risk of accidents. In order to avert this risk, some types of presses are provided with checking systems of the acting forces, that are kept very low until the punch has descended below a safety height.
Moreover, on this type of presses punches are mounted that, due to their length, can develop a thrusting action merely at their axes. Thus, even in the case of revolving turret anvils, provided with several seats housing the inserts, there is only a single working position of the turret anvil, and anyhow the insert seat has to be placed at this position, thus making it difficult to reach the installation spots of the insert located near the apexes of a trihedron or of laps, so that the insert is often applied prior to the bending.
Another drawback of the insert presses of known type lies in the fact that they strictly serve a single purpose, i.e. are destined to the mere insert installation, without foreseeing the possibility of different functions, like blanking, drawing, forming, riveting and clinching. Quite often this steps are concomitant to the insert installation, and, according to the known art, require the availability of specific apparatuses, a factor that negatively affects the capital and labor costs, and the required availability of suitable spaces for the installation and the use of such apparatuses.
The object of the present invention is to provide a press for the installation of inserts onto thin plastic or metallic rolled sections by a cold plastic deformation thereof, its use not entailing accident risks for the operator, and in which the insert and the rolled section loading and positioning steps are simpler than that of the insert presses of known type.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an insert press of the above-mentioned type configured so as to carry out a series of other machinings related to the step of insert installation or consequent thereto, and to meet specific requirements of these machinings without reducing the working safety of the operator.
A further object of the present invention to provide an insert press of the above-mentioned type, having a high operative versatility in order to allow on the one hand the insert installation even on spots of the sheet metal workpiece that are difficult of access, on the other hand allowing the optimal adjustment of the main operative parameters under any working condition.
The above objects are attained with the insert press according to the present invention, whose essential characteristics are set forth in the annexed claim 1.
Further characteristics and advantages of the insert press according to the present invention will be hereinafter apparent from the description of an embodiment thereof, given by way of example and not for limitative purposes, with reference to the annexed drawings.